Blast furnace shop

The blast furnace shop of the Karaganda Metallurgical Plant includes four blast furnaces (launched in 1960, 1961, 1971 and 1975), a slag processing section, a casting machine section, and a ladle repair depot.

A modern blast furnace is a tower as tall as a 30-story building. Outside it is dressed in a steel “jacket”, inside it is lined with fire-resistant bricks.

Inside the furnace, the hot air blown in meets the coke. When burned, coke produces carbon dioxide. Under the influence of high temperature, it turns into carbon monoxide, which comes into contact with the iron ore and frees it from oxygen – reducing the iron. Passing through a layer of coke, the reduced iron is saturated with oxygen, and cast iron is formed. The liquid cast iron that accumulates in the furnace is released through tapholes, then it flows through a chute into ditches lined with a refractory mass.

In modern blast furnaces, cast iron is produced almost continuously. These furnaces have 2-3 tap holes for producing cast iron and 2-3 foundry yards.

The leading profession at a blast furnace is a furnace operator. He is the first to take over the baton from iron ore miners in blast furnace production. It is his skill and experience that most often determine the successes or failures of a large team of workers and a blast furnace shop. The work of the blast furnace operators is dynamic in nature, since team members constantly move around the work site (along the perimeter of the blast furnace), monitoring the progress of the technological process for producing cast iron through special viewing eyes. This profession is subject only to people who are courageous, brave and reliable in their work.